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CHICAGO — The Chicago Teachers Union has sued the nation’s third largest school district, saying
that Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s campaign to reform or close underperforming public schools discriminates
against African-American teachers and staff.

The federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday and announced yesterday is the latest battle with the
city since teachers staged a weeklong strike in September.

The suit alleges that more than half of the tenured teachers fired in the most recent round
of school closings and turnarounds were African American. But blacks make up less than 30 percent
of the tenured teaching staff in the district and 35 percent of the tenured teacher population in
the failing schools, the lawsuit claims.